Air purification system and clean room system

ABSTRACT

There is an air purification system comprising, at least one housing, at least one pump configured to pump a biological purification solution through the housing. at least one fan configured to draw air into the housing. Air is cleaned and flows in a direction transverse to the direction of flow of the enhanced fluid. There can be at least one sensor which determines a level of biological impurities or contaminants in the air. There can also be at least one controller configured to control a rate of movement of said at least one fan based upon a level of impurities detected by the sensor. In at least one embodiment there can be at least one clean room which is configured to clean the air through at least one air purification system comprising one having an enhanced fluid or one that uses UV light and at least on HEPA filter.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is disclosed an air purification system that can be incorporated in with both air conditioning system as well as with any indoor facility such as hydroponic or green houses or growing rooms or any other suitable type room such as retail, industrial, office spaces, homes, apartment buildings, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes or any other type of indoor facility. There is a need for a system which includes the removal of air borne contaminated particles from large rooms from the air.

For the purpose of clearly defining the terms associated with this application, below are the defined terms. An indoor facility can include but is not limited to a house, home, apartment building, commercial, industrial, retail stores, or centers, offices, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, schools and/or universities or any other type of indoor facilities. These indoor facilities' rooms are also known as rooms. A natural biological purification solution will hereby be known as a bio solution. A biological or bio solution in combination with water will be known as an enhanced fluid. An air conditioning system will be known as a HVAC system or vice versa. An air purification system is a system which uses the bio solution or any other suitable air purifying system such as HEPA and/or ultraviolet light. Negative pressure inside of a room is created by fans drawing air into a room and through the room. Air borne contaminants shall include but are not limited to air borne particles that are equal to or more than 0.0001μ, allergens such as pollen, bacteria, odors, viruses, germs, smoke such as cigarette smoke, chemical fumes, and other pollutants such as bacteria, mold and ozone. This bio solution is substantially or 100% natural which can exist through low energy consumption and works well with HVAC. The types of particles that this has been tested with include but are not limited to corona virus, wood smoke, mold spores, legionella, H1N1, Clostridium difficile, Candida albicans, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, influenza, B/Lee/40, gas remediation, reduction of carbon monoxide, reduction of diesel combustion gasses PM 2.5 particulate &VOC emission, bacteria.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In at least one embodiment, there is an air purification system comprising, at least one housing, at least one pump configured to pump a bio solution or enhanced fluid through the housing. At least one fan configured to draw air into and out of the housing. With this embodiment, the air flow of the air is being cleaned and flows in a direction generally transverse to the direction of flow of the enhanced fluid. There can be at least one sensor configured to determine a level of contamination in the air. There can also be at least one controller configured to control a rate of movement of at least one fan based upon a level of contamination detected by said at least one sensor.

In at least one embodiment, the system is positioned to clean air inside of indoor facilities such as green houses or growing rooms or any other indoor facility or room. In at least one embodiment, there is at least one intake positioned in series with an air conditioning system. In at least one embodiment at least one sensor is configured to detect a level of airborne contamination in the air.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings which disclose at least one embodiment of the present invention. It should be understood, however, that the drawings are designed for the purpose of illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a side view of an indoor facility having an air conditioning system;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a room having an air conditioning system;

FIG. 3A is a side view of another air purification system;

FIG. 3B is a top view of the air purification system of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4A is a side view of the air purification system of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 4B is an exploded view of the air purification system of FIG. 3A;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a system using the air purification system which can draw air from an upper region;

FIG. 6 is a side view of an indoor facility, for use with an air purification system;

FIG. 7A is a side view of the air flow through a room using an air purification system;

FIG. 7B is a side view of an air purification system; and

FIG. 8 is a top view of another embodiment of purifying a room using the air purification systems listed above;

FIG. 9A shows a side view of a waterfall system;

FIG. 9B shows a front view of the waterfall wall;

FIG. 9C shows another embodiment of a different waterfall system;

FIG. 10 shows a plan view of a multistage air cleansing system;

FIG. 11 shows a plan view of a multistage air cleansing system coupled to an indoor facility;

FIG. 12 shows a side view of a waterfall system which can be used as an air purification system with the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1-12 ;

FIG. 13 shows a side view of another embodiment of a waterfall system which can be used as an air purification system shown in FIGS. 1-12 ;

FIG. 14 is another view of a room to be cleaned coupled to a clean room and an HVAC unit;

FIG. 15 shows another view of a UV and/or HEPA filter clean room; and

FIG. 16 shows a schematic block diagram of the layout of electronics.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a side view of an indoor facility such as a home having an air conditioning system which discloses a room 10 having an attic which houses an air purification system which is in series with an air conditioning system and which is in communication with the air in the house via channels 21, 22, 23, and 24. Channels 21 and 22 feed air into the indoor facility while channels 23 and 24 form separate returns. Therefore, the system acts as a close ended system which recycles air throughout the indoor facility, such that with each passing of the air, the quality of the air consistently improves.

FIG. 2 shows a room 25 which can be cleaned wherein a fan 27 is configured to create a negative pressure inside of room 25 wherein air drawn from this fan is either fed into a room 26.1 or flows outside of a room as well. For example, air can flow into room 26.1 and down to room 26.2 to room 26.3 and on to room 26.4 and then back to room 25. Alternatively, air can flow directly to each of these rooms via fans 27.1, 27.2, 27.3, and 27.4.

FIG. 3A is a side view of another air purification system which is a self-contained air purification unit. This air purification system 600 contains a chamber 601 a feed chamber 604 feeding enhanced fluid from a bottom position to a top position. There is a top portion 602 which has vents 602.1 (See FIG. 3B) allowing air to flow therein. There are also side vents as well allowing air to flow into or out of the chamber 601.

FIG. 4A is a side view of the air purification system of FIG. 3A. With this view, there is a cross sectional view which shows a plurality of cores 606, 607 and 608 having undulations and air flow chambers 607.1 and 607.2 therein. With this design, air is configured to flow into a top portion adjacent to tray 618 through a fan 610 as shown by the arrows. Trays 612, 614, and 616 are configured to collect enhanced fluid which is pumped from a bottom position inside of the chamber via a pump 605 to a top position as held by these trays. The enhanced fluid which collects in this bottom position is pumped up to a top position on these trays 612, 614 and 616 via a pump 605 (See FIG. 4B). A water input channel 640 is configured to allow for metered water flow as controlled by a controller 622 which sits in top tray 620. In this way, air flows in through the top perforated openings 621, and then flows around the cores to a bottom position in the chamber. The air then flows up the chamber and out of the side vents against the flow of water thereby creating a consistent interaction of enhanced fluid against the air flow.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a system using the air purification system 600 which can draw air from an upper region in a house or building. There are shown upper vents 652 and 654, which are connected to associated chambers 650 a and 650 b which feed into the air purification systems 600. Thus, air is pulled from a top region of this building into these air purification systems 600 and then is purified. This system allows for the cleansing of air in an indoor facility even if the air is in a top portion of the building while the air purification systems are located in a bottom position of the indoor facility.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an indoor facility such as a greenhouse for use with an air purification system. In this view, there is shown an open wall 702 and an opposite fans 704 which has a plurality of fans disposed therein creating a negative pressure inside of the indoor facility. A plurality of hydroponic trays 710, 712 and 714 are positioned inside of this house 700, wherein air flows from open wall 702 and out of fan wall 704 allowing for consistent air flow through this indoor facility. In open wall 702 are purification systems such as air purification systems 600, 850, 875, 940, 960, and 990 which can be positioned to purify the air before it enters the negative pressure chamber in the form of the indoor facility 700 thereby creating a clean environment in this case for the growing of plants or other biological material.

FIG. 7A is a side view of the view in FIG. 6 , wherein there is air flow through an indoor facility using an air purification system, thus there is shown air flowing into open end 702 having any one of the air purification systems 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 while air flows out from fan aided end 704 and past objects such as grow trays 710, 712 and 714. The air passes over the trays 710, 712 and 714 wherein this air is cleansed by any one of the air purification systems 600, 850, 875, 940, 960, and 990 disposed inside of this indoor facility such as but not limited to a greenhouse or hothouse.

FIG. 7B is a side view of an air purification system wherein this shows that the air can flow in the opposite direction as well past trays 710, 714, 716 and past open wall 702 and fans 704 flowing in an opposite direction.

FIG. 8 is a top or plan view of another embodiment of purifying a room 800 using the air purification systems listed above such as purification systems 600, 850, 875, 940, 960, and 990. In this view there is an indoor facility which can include a greenhouse system or room 800 having a hydroponic room 802 which can contain grow trays such as trays 710, 712, and 714. There is a clean room 808 which has an intake vent 804 and an outflow vent 813. The intake vent 804 and the outflow vent 813 can be controlled by separate computer control 815. Inside are one or more air purification units 810 which can be in the form of any suitable air purification unit such as any one of air purification unit 600, 850, 875, 940, 960, and 990. There is also a computer 812 which has a sensor and which is configured to test the air quality of the air in the room 811. This sensor can then relay the air quality information to computer 812 to control the operation of the air purifiers 808 as well as control the air flow through the rooms. At each of the vents 804, 813 and 814 there are optional fans, which can also be computer controlled which create a negative pressure inside of rooms 810 and 811 to control the air flow through the system. The arrows in this view show the air or fluid flow from the room to be cleaned which can be in the form of an indoor facility.

FIG. 9A shows a side view of a waterfall system 850. In this view, there is a sprayer 852 which sprays or allows the enhanced fluid to drip down in a substantially vertical manner as shown by the dashed arrow 853. The dripping of this enhanced fluid is against perforated wall 860. As shown in FIG. 9B perforated wall 860 has a plurality of perforations 862. These perforations 862 allow air to flow therethrough and be cleansed by the enhanced fluid which is shown by the following dashed dotted line 853 in FIG. 9A. The enhanced fluid can be pumped from a bottom tray 863 through a pump 861 and on up to sprayer 852 which can be in the form of a perforated pipe which sprays enhanced fluid down a wall 855 via arrow 853.

FIG. 9C shows another embodiment of a different waterfall system 875, which shows front wall 890 allowing air to flow up around solid wall 870 against the flow of the enhanced fluid shown by a dotted line thereby indicating the water falling from water feed 880. The enhanced fluid is pumped up through piping 882 via pump 883 which pumps this enhanced fluid from bottom tray 881. Thus, with this design airflows transverse to the flow of the enhanced fluid thereby creating interactions between the air and the enhanced fluid thereby cleansing the air as it passes the enhanced fluid.

FIG. 10 shows a plan view of a multistage air cleansing system 900 which shows a plurality of rooms which cleanse the air in stages. For example, there is a first intake filter 920 which leads to an intake vent 910 which can be selectively opening via a controller such as controller 1002.1. A plurality of air treatment units 600 a, 600 b, 600 c, 600 d, 600 e, and 600 f are positioned in a first room 902 and are controlled by a controller 1002.1 which can have an optional air quality sensor disposed therein. These units are shown with dotted lines connecting them because these units can be optionally coupled (electrically, fluidly, air flow and/or communicatively) together in series to pass air directly from one unit to another to create a multistage cleaning process inside of a single room. Another vent 912 selectively allows air to pass from room 902 to room 904 as well as controlled by controller 1002.1. In rooms 904 and 906 there are a plurality of waterfall systems 850 a, 875 a, 850 b, 875 b, and 850 c or 875 c (different iterations of waterfalls 850 and 875 in FIGS. 9A and 9C) which selectively cleanse the air via the water fall method shown in FIGS. 9A, 9B and 9C. A controller 1002.2 is configured to selectively control the air flow in this room and to control the flow through vent 914 thereby allowing air to pass into the adjacent room 906. Room 906 can contain a plurality of different waterfall systems 850 a, 875 a, 850 b, 875 b, and 850 c, or 875 c. Controller 1002.3 can selectively pass air through vent 916 into room 908. In room 908 there is an air conditioning based air purification system wherein there is a particulate filter 932, an air purification system such as any one of systems 600, 850, 875, 940, 960, and 990, which can be positioned in series with an air conditioning system 934. Thus, any one of these stages can be used either alone or in series with another stage to either cleanse the air alone in a single stage or cleanse the air in a multi stage process before passing the air back to an indoor facility. A controller 1002.4 is configured to allow air to pass through vent 918 and to also control the air conditioning system 930.

FIG. 11 shows a plan view of a multistage air cleansing system coupled to a indoor facility such as but not limited to a greenhouse 700. The indoor facility 700 has a multiple of assorted grow trays 710, 712, 714, along with at least one vent or trapdoor 925 which selectively feeds air into the multi-stage system 900. This multi-stage system 900 has rooms 902, 904, 906, 908, 919 which selectively allow air to flow via vents 912, 914, 916, 917 between the rooms and then flow back into the indoor facility 700 via vent 927 thereby cleansing the air. The return air can also flow through a separate return conduit 921 as well so that there is a more even disbursement of cleansed air into the room.

FIG. 12 is a view of another waterfall system 940. This waterfall system 940 has sprayers or feeders 942, 943, 944, 945 which sprays the different trays formed from for example a tray 941. There is a back elevated part of the tray 941 b and a front lower portion of the tray 941 a. Enhanced fluid flows from the sprayers 942, 943, 944, 945 which are sprayed onto these trays to the front portion of the trays 941 a, the enhanced fluid then flows downward to a collection tray 949 and then pumped back up through piping 946 to these sprayers 942, 943, 944, 945 via pump 947. At least one fan such as fan 950 and/or 952 creates airflow that flows transverse to the flow of the enhanced fluid flowing down the trays. The airflow is either substantially perpendicular to the flow of the enhanced fluid or almost entirely or substantially in the opposite direction to the flow of the enhanced fluid thereby creating constant interaction between the enhanced fluid and the air to be cleansed. A feeder pipe 953 is configured to allow for enhanced fluid to flow from the bottom tray 949 up through to the sprayers 942, 943, 944, and 945 thereby creating a constant circulation of the enhanced fluid.

FIG. 13 is a side view of another waterfall system which can be used with any one of the systems shown above. For example, with this system 960 there are a plurality of differently angled trays 964 and 963. Tray 964 is configured to slope into tray 963. These sloping trays create a cascading effect of flow of enhanced fluid from feeders 961 and 962 which feed this enhanced fluid onto the trays. For example, tray 964 feeds the enhanced fluid onto a back portion of tray 963, this solution then flows down tray 963 onto another opposite lower tray at a back section of this tray as well. This cascading action happens until the enhanced fluid flows into pan 968. This enhanced fluid then fees up through feeder 967 and back into the feeders 961 and 962 which are positioned above trays 964, and 963 respectively.

Thus, there is created a series of trays that allow for a cascading of the enhanced fluid with the enhanced fluid flowing from a top region to a bottom region and then collecting into pan 968. Air flow would then flow either with the flow of the enhanced fluid or cross ways towards it creating constant interaction between the air and enhanced fluid thereby creating constant interaction and cleansing of the air. At least one fan 965 is shown pulling air through this enhanced fluid so that the air is constantly being cleansed.

FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram of another system which utilizes a clean room system 970. With this design there is a room to be cleaned 972 which is configured to be an indoor facility. In communication with this room to be cleaned 972, is a clean room system 976 which has a plurality of vents feeding into this clean room 976. These vents or conduits comprise conduits 974, and 978, which pull air from a plurality of different areas in the indoor facility. 980 is an optional return from the clean room back into the indoor facility 972 room without accessing the HVAC 982.

There can also be multiple different returns such as returns 986, and/or return 984 as well. A plurality of different fans 987 a, 987 b, 987 c, and 987 d or 987 e are placed around the system and configured to pull or draw, or create negative pressure to draw air or through the system. The clean room 976 can be configured as similar to the clean room or multi-stage cleaning system 900 shown in FIG. 10 . Thus, the air can be moved through the clean room in stages wherein the air in one room is passed to the next room once one or more sensors determines that the air has been properly cleaned and is suitable to pass to the next stage. Disposed around the system are optional sensors 988 a, 988 b, 988 c, 988 d, 988 e which can be configured to determine the level of air quality in the air. If these optional sensors determine whether the air is of a certain quality, it is in communication with a controller such as the controller 1002 shown in FIG. 16 . The controller is configured to control the fans 987 a-e, or trap doors 989 a, or 989 b.

Alternatively, in at least one embodiment, this clean room 990 can contain an ultraviolet light treatment center which is configured to treat the air using ultraviolet light. For example, FIG. 15 shows a clean room which is created using ultraviolet lights 991, and 992 which provide light in at least the ultraviolet spectrum. Air, which is shown flowing through this clean room flows through vent 995 and HEPA filter 993. Air is also flowing out from HEPA filter 994 and vent 996. Each of the vents can be selectively closed or opened via the controller system 1000 in FIG. 16 . In addition, disposed adjacent to these vents are fans 997 and 998 which can be selectively activated as well. Thus, the vents can stop the flow of air through the clean room whereas the fans can control the flow of air through the clean room, while the controller 1000 is configured to communicate with these fans and vents to selectively control this air flow. This clean room 990 can be used in place of other clean rooms such as clean room 976 or other clean rooms shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 . In this embodiment, the HEPA filters 997 and 998 and/or the UV lights 991 and 992 and can be optionally placed therein. Therefore, the clean room can only include on HEPA filter 997 or 998, or two HEPA filters 997 and 998. This design would be without the UV lights 991 and 992.

Alternatively. the room can include only a first UV light 991 or another UV light 992, or a plurality of UV lights 991 and 992 (with no HEPA filters).

Alternative to that design could be one HEPA filter such as any one of filter 997 or 998, and one UV lights 991 and/or 991. Alternative to that design each of the designs could include one or more filter 997 and 998, and one or more UV lights 991 and/or 992.

This above design can be used in addition to the above designs shown in FIGS. 1-14 including enhanced fluid or in the alternative separate and alone from the designs in FIGS. 1-14 wherein the purification or cleaning systems do not include enhanced fluids but instead the design on FIG. 15 alone. However, each of the designs in FIGS. 1-14 do not have to include the design or clean room 990 shown in FIG. 15 .

FIG. 16 is a schematic block diagram of a controller system 1000 including a controller 1002 having a microprocessor 1002 a, and a transceiver 1002 b. This controller system 1000 is in communication with an optional sensor 1001 which is configured to detect the amount of contamination in the air such as mold, fungus, and other biological impurities or contaminants. There can also be a fan 1003 which can be controlled by controller 1002, wherein the fan speed of fan 1003 is thereby controlled. This fan 1003 is representative of the fans listed above. There is also at least one vent 1005 which can be selectively opened and closed to allow air to enter or leave a room. This vent 1005 can be any one of vents 912, 914, 916, or 917, 995, 996 or any other vent listed above. In addition, there can be a pump 1007 which is controlled by controller 1002 wherein the amount or flow rate of the pump can be changed by the controller 1002. This pump 1007 is representative of the pumps listed above. The change of the pump rate or fan speed can be controlled by controller 1002 to optimize the efficiency and cleaning ability of the enhanced fluid interacting with the adjacent air.

Thus, there is created a dynamic air cleansing system for indoor facilities such as greenhouses or any other suitable residential or office space which can clean either in a continuous process or in a multi stage process.

Accordingly, while at least one embodiment of the present invention have been shown and described, it is to be understood that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An air purification system comprising: at least one housing; at least one pump configured to pump an enhanced fluid through the housing; at least one fan configured to draw air into the housing; wherein the air flow of the air being cleaned flows in a direction transverse to the direction of the enhanced fluid; at least one sensor configured to determine a level of contaminants in the air; at least one controller configured to control a rate of movement of said at least one fan based upon a level of contaminants detected by said at least one sensor.
 2. The air purification system as in claim 1, wherein the system is positioned to clean air inside of a room of an indoor facility.
 3. The air purification system as in claim 1, further comprising at least one intake positioned in series with an air conditioning system.
 4. The air purification system as in claim 1, wherein said at least one sensor is configured to detect a level of contamination.
 5. The air purification system as in claim 1, wherein said at least one sensor is configured to detect a level of contaminants in the air.
 6. A clean room system comprising: at least one clean room comprising: at least one vent; at least one fan; at least one air purification system, wherein the air purification system is configured to purify the air in the clean room before the air is passed to another room.
 7. The clean room system as in claim 6, further comprising at least one controller and at least one sensor, wherein said at least one sensor is configured to determine a level of contaminants in the air and wherein said controller is configured to read the level of contaminants from the sensor.
 8. The clean room as in claim 7, wherein said controller is configured to control an opening and closing of said at least one vent.
 9. The clean room as in claim 7, wherein said controller is configured to control an rpm rate of said at least one fan.
 10. The clean room as in claim 7, wherein said air purification system comprises enhanced fluid configured to interact with the air to be purified to purify the air.
 11. The clean room as in claim 10, wherein said air purification system further comprises at least one pump, said pump configured to pump said enhanced fluid through the system.
 12. The clean room as in claim 11, wherein the air purification system has at least one wall configured to force air flow in a direction transverse to a direction of flow of the enhanced fluid.
 13. The clean room as in claim 6, wherein said at least one air purification systems comprises at least two air purification systems.
 14. The clean room as in claim 6, wherein said at least one air purification system comprises at least one ultraviolet light based air purification system.
 15. The clean room as in claim 14, wherein the air purification system further comprises a HEPA filter. 